On Friday, January 10, the Colonia/JFK Hockey Team lost to Old Bridge, 3-5. The two teams faced off at CHS/JFK’s home rink after a late start to the game due to a shot taken by senior Zach Manente that shattered the glass.
The starting line for the Patriots was Captain Mike Palmisano, Captain Timothy Bizub, Patrick Enz, Captain Vinnie Spino, Drew Galea, and in goal Jake Pajewski. Pajewski is in the running in the NJ.com Best Goalie in New Jersey Fan Poll Competition.
In virtually no time at all Old Bridge player, Tyler Kogut, scored the Knight’s first goal at 14:42 with an assisted from sophomore Arthur Dzieniszewski .At 9:38, the Patriots scored their first goal. Junior, Patrick Enz scored his first goal of the season with an assist by Captain Vinny Spino tying the game at 1-1.
Roughly 2 minutes later, Old Bridge scored again. Responsible for the goal was Justin Aronson, junior. Freshman Peter Hernandez and Dzieniszewski assisted this goal. Colonia Captain Timothy Bizub scored a goal at 4:27 tying the score once again. Assisting this goal was Captain Mike Palmisano. This marked the end of the 1st period, with a score of 2-2.
This time Colonia/JFK wasn’t able to hold their defense up. Old Bridge scored yet again at 11:15, making the score 2-3. Steve Saporito, with the help of Hernandez, gave Old Bridge the lead. This was the one and only goal in the second period.
OB Senior Mike Cistone was responsible for the first goal of the third period. The goal was assisted by Dzieniszewski and Kogut. The score was now 2-4, the Patriots trailing behind 2 goals.
With 6 and half minutes left in the game, Colonia was still behind. Freshman Luke Bizub snuck one past the goalie to score his first goal of his varsity career. Galea and Jake Manente assisted the goal.
With the Patriots still down in the last 3 minutes of the game, Cistone scored one more goal unassisted. Cistone locked in the win for Old Bridge with a score of 3-5.
Pajewski, Goalie for the Patriots, ended the game with 40 saves, and an .893 save percentage.
Ryan Creenan, sophomore at Colonia High School and Goalie for the Patriots said, “I think that we are a good hockey team. We have good chemistry and know how to work together. We can plug players in. All-in-all I think we are a contender in our division.”